An object lesson

Not exactly a soup question is it?

Please simply answer the question. We can discuss any implication you wish after I've composed my summary post.

Chicken bad. Beef good. Disagree, IOW.I spent a summer as "giblet toter" in a chicken processing plant. Chicken bad. Trust me.

Abortion - disagree.

Disagree

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Common sense isn't

Disagree

Disagree.

I've just opened the thread for the first time and read it all. Red vs yellow is relative to application as red was best choice for our flag, yellow preferred in my breakfast eggs and red not good. Same with meats. Beef not good in chicken soup and chicken not good in jerky sticks. Songs -- not familiar enough to judge and lastly, abortion of baby vs choice of mother would be relative as to whether you speak for life/welfare of mother only or both mother and baby.[This message has been edited by buzsaw, 01-01-2004]

As I expected, many of you anticipated my point in this thread quite easily. My intent with this exercise was to demonstrate that the truth of moral statements is subjective in the same way that the truth of other aesthetic statements is. It was primarily intended as an example to those that insist that moral statements have objective and absolute truth values. What we have have seen is that the pretty-ness of yellow or red does not have a single absolute value, nor does the tastiness of chicken or steak, nor does the sonic enjoyability of a song, nor does the rightness or wrongness of abortion.It is interesting to note, however, that the participants seemed to struggle with answers to the first three questions, however when confronted with an very partisan issue like abortion, everyone seemed to know instantly where they stood. I think this is important to point out because I think that type of obvious-ness with regard to certain moral situations creates the illusion of absolute and objective truth. It would seem that it must be absolutely true that raping and torturing an infant is wrong, and while nearly everyone would agree to the statement "Raping and torturing an infant is wrong," that does not make its truth value any more objective or absolute than the other questions in this thread.So anyway, while I thank everyone for their responses, I appreciate Mike's and Buz's participation in this thread the most as they seem to have been the only conservative Christians (at least, that I know of) that offered responses, and it is generally conservative Christians that I observe advancing the notion of objective and absolute morality. Buz's response was most refreshing to say the least as he basically cut to the very heart of the matter, and Mike more-or-less approached it when he resisted offering a complete answer to my questions. Honestly, I had expected one of them to cry foul, and it pleases me to see that they understand the issue better than I supposed. Guess that's what I get for generalizing, eh? If anyone has any more comments or questions, you are welcome to post them now.[This message has been edited by ::, 01-02-2004]

:ae-thingymajig: (wish I could just say Dave)How do you mean by 'cry foul' - Lol.BTW. A 'soup question' is information relative to you and I.

Yeah, sorry about that. If it helps, you can make the symbol by holding down the ALT key and typing 0230. In other words, ALT + 0230 makes: .Here's a page of the rest of the ALT combos:Accent Marks and Diacriticals, Alt Number Combinations, alt num, alt keyIf you're using a Mac... well... God help you. I mean that I expected someone like you would protest that my comparison of moral questions to other aesthetic questions was invalid. I'm still not sure where you stand in regards to that, actually, given this statement: And that was exactly my point with the moral question as well. The answers to moral questions are also relative to you and me.

Chickens and fetuses, whatever. I stand by what I said about Don Henley. Some things are just true, dammit!

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The dark nursery of evolution is very dark indeed.
Brad McFall

Well, Dave - I'm a bit confused. My concern amongst the posters is how easily they would agree with a dodgy statement.
Soup Question?
- Well, I am male and have never talked about abortion here, so I can see how you might like my preference concerning my favourite colour, or food or music - but personally I think my preference, or lack of one, concerning abortion, is irrelevant, to both you and I. hence the soup comment.
Listen Dave, my mind is too complex to explain this fully, I'm an indecisive fruitcake. But I enjoyed this topic, it was a v.good idea! Yes, I can see that..... I mean, have you seen deliverance - good point. Hence,> moral dilemnas.02,03 , 0230 -0230 -

At first, I thought is might be some sort of psychology test.Later, I also thought it might be some sort of exploration of the "false dichotomy'.Even though the wording of the survey was indeed often (always?) badly stated, in presenting a false dichotomy, I chose to interpret it as a true dichotomy.The color example - Yellow is a prettier color - agree or disagree. An agreement is straight forward, but a disagreement would be ambiguous. A disagreement could mean that either red is thought to be the prettier, or that neither was prettier. Such was probably the case for all four examples.Now my reasoning for my choices, again being that I chose to interpret that one must make a choice between the two offerings, and not choose "no difference".Yellow vs. Red - I chose yellow as being a passive color, as opposed to red being an aggressive color.Hotel vs. Alabama - Both are fine pieces of music, but I chose Hotel. Again, part of it was a passive/aggressive consideration, not that I don't also pursue highly aggressive music. But more so, Hotel more reflected the dark, pessimistic viewpoint I tend to have towards life and the general state of existence.Chicken vs. Steak - Chose steak. Here economic considerations come into play. While I may indeed find both to be equally tasty, the steak, being more expensive, has an added attraction as being more of a special treat.Anti-abortion vs. Pro-choice - Chose pro-choice. As has been pointed out in the debates specific to that topic, it is at least somewhat of a false dichotomy. Even pro-choice people, including myself, do not find abortion to be a preferred mode of birth control. One can indeed be both pro-choice and anti-abortion.Moose

:: writes:

quote:

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If you're using a Mac... well... God help you.

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Option-` (that's the "open single quote" usually found in the upper row by the 1). Or, simply use the Key Caps utility.

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Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!